It is by no means intended to imply that finding out the names of plants and being able to classify them constitute the whole science of botany. The truth is that many of the problems in connection with classification are most abstruse, so much so that even now the most recent and generally received system of classification can only be considered provisional. This is especially the case in regard to the lower forms of vegetable life. The life-history of many of the most minute and lowly plants is but imperfectly known, owing to their extreme minuteness and the different forms which they assume at the various stages of their life-history. This, however, does not detract from the pleasure which any one may derive from being able to describe and name any flowering plants which are to be found in any country at certain seasons. The dependence of mankind on plants is too obvious to require mention. To a large extent the vegetation of a district determines its character; for without plants no landscape would possess any particular attractiveness, and every one knows the depressing effect produced by a barren, treeless waste. The contrast between this and fields rich in pasture has occurred to every one; and a well-wooded country never fails to please the eye of the observer. Mighty forests, teeming with life, have a powerful influence on the imagination; and the value of forests both as regards their effect on climate and their economic importance has been so thoroughly recognized that in the case of India stringent measures have been adopted for their preservation. Some knowledge of plant life also enables one to guard against the evil and often fatal effects produced by eating poisonous fruits and poisonous fungi. Some of the lowly organized flowerless plants are man’s most deadly and insidious enemies. These from their excessive minuteness are quite invisible to the naked eye. Before proceeding further, it will be necessary to give a brief account of the different parts which go to compose the complete flowering plant. The reader who desires a full and detailed account of the different organs of the flowering and flowerless plants will find this in any standard text-book of botany. We will take any full-grown flowering plant and begin with the root. The root may be called the descending portion of the axis. The ascending portion of the axis is usually supplied with leaves, flowers, and green coloring matter, whereas the root is usually devoid of these. The root generally penetrates into the soil and fulfils a double function. It is by means of the roots that the plant is attached to the earth and prevented from being blown about by the winds.